Moving Forward
by alyssialui
Summary: Luna is set up on a blind date. Druna.


_A/N: Luna is set up on a blind date. Druna._

_Submission for:_

_**Weekly AU! Competition: **Blind Date!AU._

_**Riddle Me This Challenge: **Luna has dinner with Draco._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

* * *

"Ginevra, stop fussing," Luna said as she grabbed the redhead's hands before they ran over her body again. "You are more anxious about this date than I am."

Ginny frowned, her bottom lip jutting out, before she said, "I just want this to go well for you, Luna. After what happened with Rolf, I-"

Luna put her finger to her friend's lips. "We do not speak of such things again, remember?" Luna said, her mouth fixed in a tight line before she smiled again. "Tonight will be fine, even though I don't know who I'll be going out with."

Ginny moved Luna's finger away and said, "I don't know either. Harry just said he'd handle it."

Luna turned around and gave herself a once-over in the mirror, running her fingers through a few tangles her hair managed to weave itself into in the last five minutes. Though she was a bit nervous, she wasn't worried. She trusted Harry and whoever he chose for her would be a good pick.

* * *

She stood outside the restaurant, keeping her eye out for her mystery date. It was a popular eatery in Diagon Alley, one she often went to for lunch with Ronald when they both had a break from their respective jobs. She and Ginny had tried to ask him if he had known who Harry had set Luna up with but he ran away from them, saying something about being busy with Hermione all evening.

Luna twirled a lock of her around her finger and looked down the Alley at the different groups of persons walking by, passing the time by making up stories of their lives. So enraptured she was with the tale of the little old woman who was secretly a hired assassin trailing the taller man in front of her, she didn't notice someone approach her until they tapped her bare shoulder.

"Hello there, Lovegood," the person said, and Luna turned to come face to face with none other than Draco Malfoy.

"Hello, Draco," Luna greeted, taking her hand from her hair and putting it to her side. "How are you this evening?"

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced about as he said, "Not bad, not bad." Then he gestured to the restaurant door, "Are you ready to go inside?"

* * *

"Harry didn't tell me you would be my date," Luna said after Draco pulled her chair for her and she took a seat.

The blond man across from her bit his lip before saying, "We thought it would be better if you didn't know. You might not have agreed if you did."

Luna said, "You don't know that. You never tried."

"True, but would you have?" Draco asked.

Luna said, "I've known you for a long time, Draco. I've watched you from afar though I know you never really saw me until the end of our schooling. You were a frightened little boy who was unsure about his lot in life, immature in your rivalry with Harry and lost when it came to doing what was right from what was easy."

"I was?" Draco asked after he took a moment to absorb her words. "What am I now then?"

"You are a survivor, just like me and everyone else. You saw the end of days and can live to tell. You've grown and matured sooner than you had to, like everyone else. You've tried to make amends with those you've realized you've wronged and hated for no reason other than others telling you to. I think you're a good person," Luna said as she picked up her fork and examined it in the light of the candles floating above their heads. "I would have gone on this date if I had known it was you."

They fell into silence once more and Luna just watched him. The way he drummed his fingers on the table, the slight nibbling on his bottom lip. He was anxious but she had no clue why.

"I did notice you," Draco said eventually. "Before, I mean. You were always the odd girl that sat in the back of the library or on the edge of the crowd. You never seemed to be all there but then I realized you were more involved than I had ever been. I was sheltered for most of my life, I had never wanted for anything, and that made me a spoilt brat with a very narrow view of the world. And then it even took me years to realize I was on the wrong side of it all. I was the bad guy and there was nothing I could do about it except continue on the path I was on.

And then you appeared in my home, the odd girl on the edge. But you were unafraid. In a pit of snakes and the threat of death, you were unafraid. You believed that something would happen, and even if something didn't, you were completely fine with that as well. I admired you. I was jealous of you, even though you were at my family's mercy. I-"

He paused and cleared his throat and said, "Can we just start over Luna? I just want to put it behind us and get to know you from the beginning."

"I don't," Luna said.

"What?" Draco asked, leaning back in his seat.

"I don't want to start over, Draco. The things that happened shaped us into who we are today, the good and the bad. I can't forget those things no matter what and I don't want to," she said. But then she leaned closer to him and placed her hand on his on the table, "But I will move forward with you."

Draco smiled and leaned a bit closer to her as well. "Thank you."


End file.
